Baby of Mine
by Behind These Mako Eyes
Summary: No one has seen infected children or babies. Not until today. How will the boys care for a zombie baby? Let's find out. Rated M for language and possible sexual situations.
1. Chapter 1

X Nick X

"Ain't ever seen one a'them," Ellis chirped from my side, hunkering down to get a closer look at our strangest find. "Not even when we was still with Coach and Ro."

It'd been nearly three years since we'd gone our separate ways after making it to a failed evacuation. Ellis and I had been forced to wait for a second chopper, the first had been filled to capacity and our team mates were on it. I managed to squash down the urge to shudder, recalling the sight of the helicopter losing control and falling from the sky like a meteor.

"We should leave it," I urged, standing to my full height, "or we can take it out now, before it comes back to kill us."

"S'just a baby, Nick," the hick gasped, "that's cruel."

"It's an infected baby, El," I sighed, glancing at him to gauge a reaction. My sights settled on the gray-skinned infant, it's eyes an eerie yellow. It was barely covered by what appeared to be a tattered pillowcase, dark veins like spiderwebs running little courses all over the baby.

"Doesn't it make ya jus' a little bit curious?"

"You know what they say about curiosity," I deadpanned, "let's keep moving." I didn't want to spend much more of our time coming up with theories about how the infected little came to be.

Ellis stood, a look of guilt passing over his features. His blue eyes were lined with shallow tears, lips pressed into a thin line.

"I don't wanna leave 'em, Nick," he tried, "what if it'll be normal again? Then we're jus' as good as baby killers."

I pinched the bridge of my nose and groaned briefly. The singular way I was approaching this was that the little that squirmed in the grass was going to grow and make a meal out of us both. Zombies had one-track minds and that was humans for dinner.

"And what if it's just like any other infected? Interested in being babyfood, Overalls?"

Ellis frowned deeply, squatting down again after a moment. I held my breath as he slid his hands under the neck and back of the infant, their contrasting skin tones extremely stark in the midday sunshine. The baby grunted and squirmed as Ellis lifted it from the ground, a low whimper bubbling out of it's tiny throat.

"See?" Ellis huffed, shifting to cradle the infant in the crook of his elbow. The placement settled the child, a yawn rolling out of the open mouth. I squinted to study that mouth, seeing a row of sharp teeth ring the teeny cavern. "Jus' a little baby, not so scary."

"It's got shark teeth," I pointed out, "and look at its fingers, those are claws. It's equipped to kill and eat us at five months old."

We stared at one another, stubborn on both sides. Ellis wanted to care for the seemingly helpless infant, I wanted to dispose of it before it took a chunk out of us or summon a horde. We spent nearly twenty minutes debating and arguing about the situation before I'd finally conceded.

"Christ," I grumbled, "we can bring it with us to the next safe house, but if a horde attacks, I'm throwing that little fucker in the middle of it."

"No yew won't," Ellis declared, "I ain't leavin' a little babe to fend for itself and neither are yew."

"And if it bites one of us?" I asked, "then what? I'm not living out the rest of my life as a fucking zombie, neither are you."

Our squabbling was interrupted by a small cry, the infant's face scrunched up unhappily. The cry almost as soon as it started, amplified to a wail.

"Yer upsettin' him!"

"Or it's calling for it's undead parents!" I quipped, fingers tightening around the handgun I'd drawn.

Ellis stifled the cries, bringing the infant to his shoulder and rubbing it's back. We stood in relative quiet, listening for signs of other infected. I jumped at the sound of a gurgling, quiet growl somewhere to our left.

With my magnum raised, I slowly ventured forward to investigate the noise. I nearly leapt from my skin when the sight of a mangled body came into view.

Laying crumpled in the tall grass was a hunter, it's hood torn off with only pieces remaining of it's sweatshirt. The hunter looked odd, gray skin dappled with patches of peach colored flesh. Stranger still, it appeared to be female. Her face was covered in blood, which stained what had once been mousy brown hair. I studied her, noting everything odd about her predicament.

The hunter was gravely wounded, bite and claw marks littering her exposed flesh. Dark blood oozed from a deep gash along her collarbone, thick and viscous and unable to fully clot. Another gurgle emerged from her, her right hand reaching out with weakness.

The infant screamed from Ellis' hold a few meters away, making the huntress before me jerk. Her legs were twisted in the wrong ways, so I had no fear of being pounced upon. Ellis came over, a .22 in his unoccupied hand. The hunter snarled, yellow eyes fixated on the infant that was only feet away from her.

"This yer baby?" Ellis asked, although neither of us expected much of a response. She hissed, her hand reaching for him with a terrible amount of effort, the appendage shaking with the strain.

The southerner turned the child around to face the hunter, it's screams vanishing when it focused on her. A low purr sounded from the huntress, but it abruptly ended as blood welled from the wound expanding her entire chest. Clawed hands dropped and she coughed, dark blood splattering the grass and rolling down her chin.

Ellis hesitated, but deposited the small creature onto the hunter's stomach, eyeing her talons as he did.

"What the fuck..."

The baby shifted as the huntress' weak arms came to cradle it. She lifted the tattered remains of her sweatshirt, exposing breasts that looked painful and swollen. The tiny zombie latched on almost immediately, making me squirm uncomfortably. Ellis' face held a look similar to my own, confused and somewhat repulsed.

"That answers that," he boasted, "that's 'is momma."

I didn't know what was worse - Ellis being able to pick up on the zombie-bond or the fact that zombies could reproduce by means not including infection. Speculation wasn't important at this point.

"She's dyin'," the hick murmured, removing his cap to hold it against his chest, "she can't even get up." I didn't know how to respond to that, my eyes still locked onto the mother and child pair before me.

The huntress met my gaze, something I didn't think possible of a zombie. Her claws curled closer around the little, a ragged breath leaving her lips. Her brows knit together and she opened her mouth, a strained whisper creeping out.

"T'k 'err," she rumbled, her arm dropping to the side. She coughed a few more times, droplets of blood dotting the baby's dirty skin further. "...take.." a wheeze stopped her from speaking more.

"You want us to take 'er?" Ellis repeated, kneeling to stand closer. The huntress hissed in pain, her upper body now completely slack.

"Take..."she tried again, "m-my...little girl.."

Nothing could ever top this strange afternoon in my book. Ellis had found a child, later it's dying mother, and now she wanted us to take the baby.

I opened my mouth to ask some questions, but I'd been too late. The huntress' eyes glazed over after one last loving look toward the spawn at her breast. She was gone.

X Ellis X

I tried not to concern myself with what Nick's thoughts were on the matter of our newest addition. She was asleep where she lay between my overalls and tshirt, tiny clawed fingers embedded in my favorite shirt. We were only another mile or so from the next safe house, or so the markers indicated.

"I like Charlotte fer a name," I said to break the silence, "she never did tell us her name."

Nick's green eyes looked steely, his eyebrows drawn in to scowl at me.

"We're not going to name it," he snapped, "we should have just done it and it's mother a favor and killed them both."

"D'ya have to be such an ass?" I spat, "did ya see her momma? She was half human, Nick!"

"Or she was in the middle of turning," he shot back angrily, "we don't know shit about these things. Let alone babies!"

I lifted a hand to place it on the tiny girl's back as she whimpered softly, raising it's twin to cup the back of her head comfortingly. She stilled and sighed, cute button nose nuzzling into the cotton shirt. My heartstrings pulled and I leveled an angry stare with Nick.

"Her momma was turning back," I pressed, "she died before she finished an' left little Charlotte with us, 'cause we ain't bad people." I was convinced of that.

Nick seemed to relent slightly, but his lips pressed into a thin line. He looked like he wanted to believe that, but he was so god damned skeptical.

"...it can stay-"

"Ya mean it?!"

"-until it tries to take a bite, then it's as good as dead, Ellis."

As much as I didn't like it, I agreed finally. I tried to see it from both perspectives, as immoral as Nick's was. Nick was concerned with only our wellbeing, I was worried about little Charlotte making it out here all by her lonesome.

"S' a girl," I griped, "and we're gonna call 'er Charlotte." The conman shook his head and kept trekking forward without another word. I glanced down again at the baby girl snoozing in my hold. If it weren't for her skin and claws, she'd look like a regular baby.

We'd made it to our destination before the sun had gone away completely, the sky was tinged with baby blue, hues of yellows, and the outlines of pink from behind the clouds. I smiled at the sight, absently patting Charlotte's little behind.

"Yew wanna see, Lottie?" I asked as she roused, removing her from my overalls and holding her facing out. "See the clouds n' the settin' sun?"

Nick snorted in impatience, leaning on the wall of the front of the house. He didn't seem amused in my sharing the experience of a sunset with our littlest member. I didn't care when she cooed, the noise alone making my heart feel all melty.

"The sun goes down fer bed so the moon can wake up," I told her, pointing at the moon in its faraway location, "see? He's up n' 'attem!"

Her tiny Cupid's bow lips were pulled into a smile, the tiny fangs seeming white against her dark gums. I felt my spirits lift at the sight, beaming with her while we looked at the sky.

"Come inside, El," Nick ordered softly, "we need to eat and get some rest."

I obeyed, carrying Charlotte inside and closing the door behind us. Nick had lit a few candles and was beginning a fire in the fireplace for us to settle at.

We ate our cans of ravioli in silence, save for the sound of Charlotte attempting to crawl into my lap. Nick watched her with cold eyes as her little claws gained purchase on my shirt, effectively snagging on the material. I did my best to ignore him and freed a hand to help her sit, her back leaning on my stomach.

"Yew want summa this?" I asked her, spearing a ravioli with my fork and taking a few bites out of it to make it small enough for her. She perceptively opened her mouth, being fed solids wasn't a lost concept. I deposited the bit on her tongue, eyeing the razor sharp ring of teeth surrounding the blackened muscle. Charlotte's face screwed up and she spat the piece out of her mouth, nearly shrieking at the taste. I laughed and god, it'd been so long since the last time I had.

"It probably wants flesh," Nick scoffed, "or milk."

"She prolly hasn't tried Chef Boyardee," I insisted, wiping up the regurgitated food with a nearby rag, "I reckon her momma didn't getta chance to give her much else."

Nick did not reply, scraping out the final pasta pocket and sauce before placing the can aside. He heaved a long sigh and scrubbed his ringed fingers over his face, chancing a look at Charlotte, who was exploring her toes in my lap.

"I'm gonna get some shuteye," Nick announced, "you've got first watch." The gambler took off his suit coat and balled it up for a makeshift pillow, laying down and closing his eyes.

"...I love yew," I told him softly, "g'night."

"Love you too, El," Nick replied, a tired and small smile gracing his face.

I settled back against the wall, Charlotte's fist balled up and in her mouth, yellow eyes on me. She kicked her little feet out, getting comfortable for our shared watch.


	2. Chapter 2

X Nick X

_The sun shone brightly in northern Florida on that gorgeous Sunday, it was late spring and I'd never felt so free. Ellis walked beside me, fingers laced as we padded across the shoreline. Neither of us spoke, simply enjoying the sounds of the ocean waves. We'd just made it there, it was early in the morning, maybe six. We planned to spend a long time here, maybe live here in the sunshine state. The infection had been eradicated four months prior and life was slowly returning to normal._

_The only others we saw were the few that enjoyed early morning jogs who would pass us with a kind smile, paying no mind to two grown men strolling by hand in hand. Sure, it was modern day and certainly people were more tolerant, but the simple act of publicly being together made the conman's heart swell. It was just him and Ellis against the world, and he was just fine with that._

_"Yew wanna swim a lil', baby?" Ellis finally asked me, his beautiful baby blues sparkling in the early light, "the water should be warm."_

_I nodded, leaning over to press a sweet kiss on my partner's cheek. We turned and retreated back up the beach, choosing a spot to place our things and remove our shirts and shoes. A plume of desire unfurled in my gut when Ellis removed his shirt. You could wash your clothes on his abs and the faint dusting of hair training down made my mouth water. Ellis' skin was a healthy and smooth golden brown, making me wonder just how far down that tan went._

_With our bathing suits being all that was left, we took off like giddy children for the ocean. We splashed around in the waves and let ourselves be brought back up to the shore, smiling and laughing like there wasn't a damned thing in the world to worry about._

_A faraway cry distracted me briefly, but I dismissed it and sat in the low tide, feeling the sand crumble away below me with every pull of the tide. Ellis smiled jovially and plopped down beside me, our hands lacing and meeting sweetly. He leaned his head on my shoulder after pecking my cheek. We sighed in unison, watching the sun rise further in the sky._

_The cry seemed closer, the sound amplified. I turned to my love, curiosity plain to see. Ellis opened his mouth and his lips began to form words I didn't hear. My ears began to ring and the cry got louder, becoming a shrill wail in a much closer proximity. I separated our hands to cover my ears, but my palms couldn't stifle the noise._

_The wails became screams and I shook my head, wishing that would cease the disturbance. It only became louder and louder, I could barely hear myself think._

_"Nick," Ellis' voice rang clear through the caterwauling, but it didn't end._

_"Nick," he nearly whispered to me, the sound clear as wedding bells._

_"Nick!"_

I gasped, jumping when Ellis' projection of impatience startled me again.

"Wha?"

"We gotta go," he urged, getting to his feet, "yew gotta grab whatever food ya can and we gotta go."

Charlotte was screaming, her face had a purplish hue with the stress of it. I wanted to throw her through the god damned window, I hated the sound of a baby's cry.

"What's going on?"

Ellis became sheepish, adjusting his hold on the gray-skinned infant in an attempt to pacify her.

"I fell asleep, there's a smoker out there," he surmised, chancing a look between the bars of the safe house door, "I tried to shoot 'em, it woke her up."

"God damnit," I growled, hastily getting to my feet and gathering the few supplies and ammunition we had, "are you sure your little pal didn't lure it? It could be her dad."

"Now is notthe time for jokes, Nick!"

I quickly got my rifle into position, the barrel just barely nosed out between the bars. My eye settled behind the scope, searching for my smoggy target. The wheeze I heard told me he wasn't far and he was to the east.

"Anything else?" I asked, cocking my gun once I'd locked onto the smoke-filled infected.

"I can hear a few stragglers," he mentioned, placing Charlotte in his overalls like the other day to have his hands free. "We gotta get moving though, it's gotta be nine or later."

X Ellis X

The trudge to the next safe house was quiet, save for Charlotte happily babbling in my arms. She'd wriggled from my overalls, claws keeping her almost up on my shoulder.

I was more surprised that she wasn't upset and hungry, as most babies her estimated age were. I'd assumed after a moment of pondering that she was accustomed to infrequent meals, which made me sad in turn. My next topic of speculation was how I was going to keep her feeding schedule, or make one, rather. A hungry baby was never happy, as I'd recalled from Keith's baby sister.

"Next unlocked store we find, we gotta snag this lil' girl somethin' to eat," I proclaimed, "I'll bet she's gonna be hungry in a while."

"I'm sure they'll have a zombie milk formula," Nick scoffed, rolling his eyes at me. I bristled at that, giving nick an irritated glance. To prevent an argument, I brushed it off and looked forward.

We were coming upon a tiny town, all of its businesses and residencies on a single road. It reminded me of my hometown in China, Texas. There'd only been a few shops - a liquor store, a church, a pharmacy, and a barbecue stand.

"We can try the drug store," I offered, picking up my pace to reach it sooner.

The windows were busted in and the door remained closed, I snorted at the sight and cocked the .22 in my hand, readying for any signs of infected life. Nick followed closely behind, his gun also at the ready. We entered via broken out window, careful not to cut ourselves on the stray glass that remained in the frame.

There had been no signs of infected in the town thus far, which brought a rain of relief. I began to browse the small establishment, pausing when I'd come upon the family planning and infancy aisle. There were baby versions of medication left over and I spied a few packs of diapers.

"Ya want a couple a these," I asked Charlotte, not expecting a reply.

"Have you ever seen zombie shit?"

I hadn't thought of that, giving Nick a quizzical expression. Despite his harsh behavior toward Charlotte, he had a point. I'd never come across excrement that pointed to the undead. It now made sense that the girl wasn't wearing a diaper when we'd first met. She was still wearing that tattered pillowcase, the threadbare material only covering her torso and bits.

"Guess not," I admitted, perusing the lane a little more. The sight that made me grin was a small array of onesies and outfits made for babies, bibs were scattered about and those little mittens were in the middle. "Yew need some new threads, darlin'."

I selected a pale pink onesie with accompanying cheetah print pants along with a package of wipes, shifting Charlotte to one arm as I brought her to a checkout counter. She wriggled uncomfortably against the cool surface, whimpering unhappily at our separation.

"It'll be jus' a sec, baby girl," I soothed, removing the browning pillow garment to begin wiping the grime from her skin. She was vocal about her displeasure, again trying to squirm away from my gentle strokes of the wipe.

Charlotte's skin was a much paler gray than I'd originally thought and she didn't look as horrifying with the blood cleaned away. I could depict that her hair was the same mousy brown as her mother's, not black. She practically looked like a new baby despite the telltale signs of hunterficafion.

"Almost done, girlie," I promised, moving to remove the clothing from it's hanger and plastic tags. The onesie was slightly large on her, the sleeves reaching just past her tiny claws. "Yew look so cute," I crooned, distracting her as I slid the impossibly small pants on her legs. Those too, were just a tad on the long side, covering her clawed toes.

Nick had stood nearby, simply watching as I cleaned and dressed our new companion. He didn't seem to appreciate the cuteness of it like I did, but at this point I wasn't concerned about his appreciation.

My last acquisition was a large tub of formula, a three-pack of bottle and nipple sets, and an equally large bottle of water. I foraged for anything else that could prove useful for us at this given moment, mainly for Charlotte. Once satisfied, I turned to my partner, who was waiting impatiently.

"Ready?"

"More than," Nick replied irritably, "let's get going, El."

I hoisted Charlotte, cradling her in the crook of my arm as we exited the store. She waved her arms around, most definitely unsure of her new attire. Her thumb-claws broke through the sleeves first, hooking on my overalls by mistake.

"I bet yer ready fer some breakfast," I murmured to her, before promising, "next time we stop, I'll make ya a bottle."

Nick's expression remained unreadable as we trekked on.

X Nick X

We stopped to feed the crabbing child after about three miles, as much as I didn't want to. I wanted to drop the little monster off the nearest cliff, but Ellis wouldn't forgive me if I did.

The bottle was prepared in no time, Charlotte's hungry mouth sucking it down without complaints. I saw formula ooze out around her mouth and frowned.

Those razor blades in her mouth could prove to be troublesome to the weak nipple of the bottle. I shuddered, thinking back to the huntress feeding her child straight from the tap. Maybe that's why they'd looked so swollen and painful - my own nipples ached at the thought of those gnarly teeth clamping down and suckling.

We didn't have to stop for long, the little greedily taking everything that was offered. Ellis' doting behavior was sickeningly sweet, using a wash cloth he'd snagged to clean her face from formula.

"Now ya gotta get the gas out," he told her with an amused chuckle, raising her up and onto his shoulder to begin the burping process. We began walking, Ellis listening to his tiny tag along for an indication that she'd burped and was ready to roll.

The noise that Charlotte produced made me laugh aloud. She belched, full out, like a linebacker. There was no spit-up or anything of the sort, just an eruption of gas from between her lips. Ellis cackled along, bringing her back down to babytalk with her about it.

"We've got at least two miles until the next safe house," I informed, "we're lucky there aren't a lot of infected out this way."

"Ya took the words right outta my mouth," the hick agreed, "I don't think we been in such a clear place b'fore."

The safe house was back behind the thick woods and a small swamp, I could see a tiny light in the distance as we trudged forward.

"Think we'll see gators?" Ellis asked, shifting Charlotte to slide safely into his overalls. "Lottie's prolly never seen 'em before, I bet she'd love 'em."

I bit back a snide comment, shrugging instead. Ellis had a sincere dislike for my distaste toward the tiny zombie. It wasn't my fault that the damned child was a baby monster, a part of the ones ravaging our planet.

But she didn't ask for this.

I shook the thought from my mind, resolving that it didn't matter. Charlotte was stuck with us until the worst case scenario and she bit one of us or brought a pack of zombies upon us.

Once we'd reached the safe house and inspected it for surprise infected, only to be met with peace, I closed and locked the door behind me. Our dinner our of a Can was quiet, Ellis giving Charlotte a taste.

She didn't seem to mind spam, her face remained almost blank as she chewed the little niblet that Ellis had fed her on the fork. The southerner was pleased, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"Yer turn," Ellis prompted with a long yawn, "me n' Lottie are hittin' the hay."

I was almost jealous - this safe house had beds, soft furniture, and lanterns to light the space. I was resigned to sit in a chair facing the door, my rifle leaning against it.

Ellis was asleep in moments, but the tiny zombie in his arms was not. In the three times I'd looked over at them, those glowing yellow eyes were on me.

The night was so quiet, all I could hear were the rhythmic chirps of crickets and the occasional owl. I drifted off without realizing, the last three days of walking having exhausted me.

Charlotte was an exhausting fixture on our current life.


End file.
